New ships including the Russian battleship Marat, Russian cruisers Aurora and Kirov and German cruiser Niobe (but not limited to)

Play up to 32 players online in dogfight and in cooperative modes (depending on your internet connection)

IL-2 Sturmovik and IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles are not compatible with each other when playing online

IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles includes from the original IL-2 Sturmovik game:

All aircraft (including those released for free in add-ons)

All maps

IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles does not include from the original IL-2 Sturmovik game:

The single missions

The multiplayer missions

The 3 offline single player campaigns

MINIMUM SPECIFICATIONS

Computer:

Pentium III 800/AMD Athlon 700 or better

Memory:

256 MB of RAM ( 512 MB is recommended)

Operating System:

Windows(r)98/ME/2000/XP

DirectX:

DirectX 8.1 or higher (included on disc)

Video Card:

3D video card (DirectX 8.1 compatible) w/32MB RAM (64MB recommended)

CD-ROM:

4X CD-ROM or better (Not recommended for use with CD-RWs)

Audio:

Direct 8.1 compatible sound card

Internet/Network Play:

Internet connection (56 kbps or better) or LAN for multiplayer

Hard Drive Space:

1.1 GB

NEW MAPS

There are 5 new main gameplay maps:

Gulf of Finland summer

Gulf of Finland winter

Hungary summer

Hungary winter

L'vov summer

Gulf of Finland maps include the large area that covers the cities of Helsinki (capitol of Finland), Tallinn (capitol of Estonia), Leningrad (St. Petersburg), the Finnish Gulf itself, Kronstadt island and other islands fortifications, and the great lake Ladoga. The city of Helsinki and Leningrad have been designed using old 1939-1940 maps and contain a number of unique and well-know buildings and objects.

Both maps of the Finnish Gulf have been designed that to cover the historical battles of 1941-1944 during the Russo-Finnish war.
The Hungarian winter and summer maps include the great lake Balaton and the surrounding area around, including small part of Slovenia.
The L'vov map include the parts of Soviet Ukraine and small parts of Poland and Slovakia.
For online gameplay, we have prepared several maps for different gameplay. One of which includes towering mountains with high altitude airfields.

DYNAMIC CAMPAIGN GENERATOR

IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles introduces a dynamic campaign. The dynamic campaigns are automatically generated, and the player can select his or her nation, squadron, and aircraft to fly. Players can also decide when they want to join the war. After the completion of each mission, the results will be processed and another mission will automatically be generated - and so on, until the end of war. Results of one mission will carry on to the next and no two missions will be the same.
During the campaigns, forces will advance or retreat, based on the history of the battles. However, frontline movements can speed up or slow down in limited degree. Additionally, resource tracking is present and objects destroyed in one mission will stay destroyed in the next. Every destroyed plane, friendly or hostile, reduces the number of planes of this type in the theatre, making their appearance less likely. Destroyed trains and transport columns will affect supply rate. If an ace is killed or captured, he will not appear in future battles.
Squadron management will also play a key-role in the dynamic campaign system. Every pilot has a name, photo (it is possible to replace the default photos) a rank, medals, sorties and kills. Each pilot's skill level is defined by combat experience. Pilots can be killed, captured, promoted, awarded or transferred. Losses are replaced, but new pilots will likely have minimal combat experience. Each squadron has a limited amount of combat ready planes, and if this number drops below some point, the squadron will be short-handed.
Players may choose to play from any time of 1941 to 1945 and fly for either Germany, Russia, Finland or Hungary.

NEW AIRCRAFT

In addition to all IL-2 Sturmovik aircraft and IL-2 Sturmovik free add-ons aircraft already released, here are the new aircraft:
(in red the VVS and Allies aircraft, in blue the LW and Axis aircraft)

Flyable

Ju-87D-3

Two seat dive bomber / ground attack aircraft

Ju-87G-1

Two seat tank buster / ground attack aircraft

Bf-109G-14

Fighter

Bf-109G-10

Fighter

Bf-109K-4

Fighter

FW-190D-9

Fighter. 1944 model

FW-190D-9

Fighter. 1945 model with MW50

FW-190F-8

Fighter-bomber

FW-190A-9

Fighter

He-111H-2

Multi-crewed bomber

He-111H-6

Multi-crewed bomber / torpedo bomber

Me-262A-1a

Jet fighter

Me-262A-2a

Jet fighter-bomber

B-239 (Brewster Buffalo F2A)

Fighter. Finnish Air Force

Hurricane Mk I Fighter

Finnish Air Force

TB-3

Multi-crewed bomber

La-5

Fighter

La-5F

Fighter

La-7 2x20mm ShVAK cannons

Fighter

La-7 3x20mm B-20 cannons

Fighter

I-153 M-62

Fighter

I-153P

Fighter

Hurricane Mk IIB

Fighter

Hurricane Mk IIC

Fighter

Hurricane Mk II with Russian cannons and MGs

Fighter

P-47D-10

Fighter / fighter-bomber

P-47D-27

Fighter / fighter-bomber

P-40E

Fighter

P-40M

Fighter

P-40 field mode with Soviet M-105P engine

Fighter

AI

Bristol Blenheim MK I

Bomber. Finnish Air Force

Bristol Blenheim MK IV

Bomber. Finnish Air Force

Fiat G.50

Fighter. Finnish Air Force

Morane MS.406

Fighter. Finnish Air Force

Morane MS.410

Fighter. Finnish Air Force

Mörkö Morane

Fighter. Finnish Air Force.Equipped with Soviet engine M-105P, captured by Germans and sold in Finland

In total with IL-2:FB and IL-2 installation you'll get 129 aircraft, at least 80 of which are flyable!

REALISTIC / COMPLEX ENGINE MANAGEMENT

Controlling Multi-Engine Aircraft

When flying a multi-engine aircraft, you have an option to control its engines separately.
You may choose the engines you wish to control using engine selection keys found in the Controls menu.
Your current engine controls (e.g. throttle, prop and mix positions, radiator set-up, e.t.c.) apply only to the engine(s) you have selected.
Note that if you enabled the Separate Engine Start key in the Difficulty settings, you will not be allowed to start all of the engines simultaneously, and have to select them for ignition one by one.

Advanced Engine Controls

The engine control routines have been reworked and expanded for the Forgotten Battles; you now have more detailed control over your engines, with more realistic feedback. However, some tasks (like engine start-up procedure) remain simplified and usually performed with a single keystroke.

Throttle Control

Throttle control remains essentially the same it was prior to Forgotten Battles. Yet now you may push it farther than Combat Power (100%) to force your engine into the War Emergency Power (Emergency) mode (up to 110%). Note that there is no Power 110 keyboard shortcut, so you'll have to use Increase Engine Power control key (keyboard + by default) to gain War Emergency Power (Emergency) when controlling throttle with keyboard.

Emergency Power

A number of aircraft modeled in the game have special systems allowing an engine to gain advanced performance over a short period of time (alike the notorious nitrous oxide injection system). These systems vary the principle of operation, but for all aircraft so equipped they may be engaged using the Boost (WEP) On/Off control button:

Special Emergency Power for aircraft such as FW-190A-8, FW-190A-9, FW-190F-8 FW-190D-9 1944

Water injection device for cooling down engine of P-47D-10 and P-47D-27 at emergency power of engine.

Supercharger Control

High-altitude engines are equipped with superchargers or turbochargers of different design. While many of those are automatic, others have manual control.
In this case, you have to use "Supercharger Next Stage" and "Supercharger Prev. Stage" to adjust the supercharger gear as the flight altitude changes. Most of the chargers are 2-stage, and only require one shift up of the gear when passing altitude at around 2500 meters.
This function will not work for the planes, that had fully automatic pitch or stages of superchargers (for Example Bf-109 or FW-190).

Mixture Control

Most of the engines allow the pilot to adjust mixture richness manually. While the nominal position of this control (Auto Rich) should provide normal engine operation in all flight configurations, some input may be required on high altitude or when the engine has taken battle damage. It is common to use increased (Full Rich) set-up during take-off or as a means of Emergency Power.

Radiator Control

New to Forgotten Battles is advanced radiator control. In Advanced Engine Controls difficulty mode you now have 5 cowl or radiator flap positions to provide more accurate control over it, plus, on the aircraft so equipped, you may put the radiator flap in automatic mode.

Propeller Pitch Control

The way of controlling the Prop. Pitch and keys used remain the same as before the Forgotten Battles, with the addition of Increase Prop. Pitch and Decrease Prop. Pitch control keys for a more convenient and accurate propeller control.
However, the propeller governor routines has been reworked to achieve a more detailed and accurate model, plus several governor mechanism types were added.

Fixed Propeller

Some older airplanes found in the game (like TB-3) are equipped with simple fixed pitch wooden propellers. Those, of course, have no automation or control, and require no pilot input.

Variable Pitch Propeller

These propellers have variable airscrew blade incidence. In this case, Prop. Pitch Control directly varies the airscrew blade pitch, and needs to be adjusted constantly as the airplane speed changes. Note that setting the blades pitch too low may result in engine over revving.
Note that there was special equipment on the Bf-109 (F, G and K series) and FW-190 fighters providing automatic propeller control, however the pilot may input the changes of pitch and adjust blade angles manually whenever he finds necessary.

Constant Speed Propeller

The most advanced, yet most common through the aircraft of the WWII era was the Constant Speed Propeller. In this case, pilot uses the Prop. Control to set desired engine RPM, while the propeller governor attempts to maintain the set RPM.

Aeromechanical Screw

This type of airscrew uses balance of aero dynamical forces and propeller inertia to maintain optimal blade incidence. Thus, it requires no input from the pilot.

Propeller Feathering

Some propellers provide an option to 'feather' its blades that is to turn the blades parallel the airflow to reduce the drag. That becomes essential when an engine fails in-flight.

Magneto Control

Piston aviation engines use magnetos to drive the spark plugs. There are two magnetos, left and right, and normally both operate. However, you may set which is working using Magneto Next and Magneto Prev. control keys, or switch them off to shut down the engine.

Extinguisher Control

A number of aircraft, mostly large airships, had built-in fire extinguishers in the engine compartment. On the aircraft so equipped, you may fire the extinguishers on the selected engines using Fire Extinguisher control key. However, this doesn't guarantee to put out the engine, and the extinguisher has only a limited number of charges.

Level Bomber bombsights for multi-crewed aircraft of the Forgotten Battles

The Forgotten Battles introduces the level bomber bombsights. With the release there will be present Lotfe 3D bombsight of He-111H-2 and H-6 and OPB-1 optical bombsight for Soviet early war bombers, like TB-3.